sun. I know, indeed, they have a great veneration for the moon, which
they invoke, whenever, under favor of its light, they undertake any
journeys, either by land or water, or tend the snares they have set for
their game. This is the prayer they occasionally address to it:

"How great, O moon! is thy goodness, in actually, for our benefit,
supplying the place of the father of the day, as, next to him, thou hast
concurred to make us spring out of that earth we have inhabited from the
first ages of the world, and takest particular care of us, that the
malignant air of the night, should not kill the principle and bud of
life within us. Thou regardest us, in truth, as thy children. Thou hast
not, from the first time, discontinued to treat us like a true mother.
Thou guidest us in our nocturnal journies. By the favor of thy light it
is, that we have often struck great strokes in war; and more than once
have our enemies had cause to repent their being off their guard in thy
clear winter-nights. Thy pale rays have often sufficiently lighted us,
for our marching in a body without mistaking our way; and have enabled
us not only to discover the ambushes of the enemy, but often to surprize
him asleep. However we might be wanting to ourselves, thy regular course
was never wanting to us. Beautiful spouse of the sun! give us to
discover the tracks of elks, moose-deer, martins, lynxes, and bears,
when urged by our wants, we pursue by night the hunt after these beasts.
Give to our women the strength to support the pains of child-birth
[_Lucina fer opem_, was also the cry amongst the ancient heathens],
render their wombs prolific, and their breasts inexhaustible fountains."

I have often tried to find out, whether there was any tradition or
knowledge amongst them of the deluge, but always met with such
unsatisfactory answers, as entirely discouraged my curiosity on that
head.

This nation counts its years by the winters. When they ask a man how old
he is, they say, "How many winters have gone over thy head?"

Their months are lunar, and they calculate their time by them. When we
would say, "I shall be six weeks on my journey;" they express it by, "I
shall be a moon and a half on it."

Before _we_ knew them, it was common to see amongst them, persons of
both sexes of a hundred and forty, or a hundred and fifty years of age.
But these examples of longevity are grown much more rare.

By all accounts too, their populousness is greatly